Lake Izabal, Rio Dulce, & Livingston

The last leg of our trip was spent around the Rio Dulce area. Our hotel was actually on Lake Izabal. We did the boat tour, which is one of our favorite things!

The hotel pier

Our taxi boat arriving to pick us up Views from the boat This is a Spanish Fort that we passed

The bridge over Rio Dulce

We stopped by this gas station to fill-up

A house we passed

Arriving in Livingston

Keith, Glenna, Regina, & David
We walked all over town!

We met this local guy. He is a Garifuna. They are one of the indigenous groups in Guatemala. Most all of them live in Livingston. He took us on a tour of their area and taught us a lot about their culture. He even tried to teach us a few phrases in their Garifuna language.
It was sooo hot there!!! But we had a great time despite the heat. That night we were awakened by a tremor. The room started shaking around 2:30 AM. It was the strongest one we have ever felt! It was not until the next morning that we found out it was a 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Honduras. That was an experience!!

Tikal Ruins

One of the things the Bartley's wanted to do was to visit the ruins at Tikal. It was their first trip and our third. The temperature up that way was near 100 everyday!!! It was the hottest we have been in quite some time. Despite the heat, we had a great time walking through the park and seeing the sites.

David, Regina, Glenna, & Keith

On our last two visits we hired a guide. This time we decided to to it solo. This is David and I looking over the map and trying to come up with a plan for seeing everything.

Views from on top of Temple IV

This is another ruin we climbed. It might not look it from this photo, but it was straight up! David, Keith, & Regina We had a great time but I must admit, out of all the things we had seen that day, the following sign was my favorite sight!!! That and the cold bottle of water that was waiting for me in the car. :-)

Making "The Loop"

This week we have hosted the Bartley's. They drove up last Sunday (the red dots) and spent the week out with us seeing our work area. We have told them a lot about "the loop" and have been wanting them to drive up and make it with us. The loop (purple dots) is a large circle that we drive that covers a large portion of K'ekchi' territory. We leave Coban heading north through Chisec, Sayaxche, and Flores. From Flores we head down through Poptun and Rio Dulce and then head back towards El Rancho. From El Rancho we drive north back to Coban. It would take about 11 hours to do it non-stop. We broke it up over several days and visited sites along the way. This is the first of a few posts I will make about our week.
We spent a lot of time on the road this week!!! One of our first stops was at Bro. Federico's house. He is a K'ekchi' missionary. Below is the road to his house.
While David met with him, Glenna & I entertained the children.

We made it to Flores late-afternoon and checked in for the night. These were sunset views that we saw while there. I think Flores has some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen!

David, Regina, Glenna, & Keith

We had some great meals overlooking the lake.

This was a sign in one of the coffee shops we visited.